QOF requires that patients have cervical screening every 3 year and 6 months if they are aged 25-49 inclusive, and every 5 years and 6 months if they are aged 50-64.

Exception reporting for no response to 3 invitations

If a patient has not responded to 3 invitations within the 3 years 6 months (or 5 years 6 months) (the 'timeframe') then a practice may 'exception report' them by adding the code:

'1109911000000100 - Excepted from cervical screening quality indicators - no response to three invitations'

This is made clear in the QOF contract guidance (link to document here):

The guidance further clarifies regarding invitations sent from the central screening service:

Although the first one or two may be sent centrally, they ought therefore to be recorded in the patient's clinical record.

Exception reporting for other reasons

It is, of course, still possible to exception report patients who may choose not to have a smear.

The following codes can be used as appropriate:

If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: support-emis@ardens.org.uk